Forbidden Affairs
by bittersweet88
Summary: Hanna is worried about her friend Aria, who seems to be very unhappy lately and tries to talk to her in a bar. Meanwhile Ezra resorts to alcohol to cope with his feelings for his student.    My first fanfic in english, I hope it's ok!
1. Chapter 1

This wasn't supposed to be a long story, I just felt like already posting a part of it...

Hanna knew something was wrong with Aria. Every time they asked her about it, she mumbled something about her parents' separation, but Hanna who had gone through the same situation only months earlier sensed there was something else. Something she clearly didn't want to talk about, but seeing her that unhappy made Hanna wonder if there was anything she could to help her friend.

"Don't you think it's a little bit early to be in a bar?" Aria asked her friend, who pulled her into some shabby bar in the middle of the day.

"No", was the simple and only answer Hanna gave her while pushing her on a barstool next to an old man who smelled of alcohol.

"So what's the occasion?" Aria asked because she knew there had to be a good reason why Hanna dragged her here.

Hanna sat down on the barstool next to Aria and took a deep breath.

"Aria, I hate to see you so unhappy! What is wrong with you?"

Aria looked surprised and what Hanna interpreted as ashamed for a second, than she gave her a little smile.

"You know I'm just really exhausted with all this stuff going on at home. We're not doing that well being a one-parent-family."

"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean, you know I do! But is that really everything that's bothering you? You know you can tell me everything!"

"Yeah, I know", Aria replied looking down. She was playing with some peanuts, which stood in front of them in a dirty bowl.

"Stop that!" Hanna said and pushed the bowl aside, "You don't know who already touched those!" She tried to look at Aria, but her friend still avoided eye contact.

"Look if it is about this boy from Iceland… maybe you should just end things with him."

"What?" Aria looked at her confused.

"I googled flights to Iceland and there is no way you can afford that. Especially not several times a year. I hate to break it to you, but I don't see any future in this relationship."

"Look, Hanna, it's more complicated than that…"

"Sounds like one more reason to dump this guy", Hanna cut her off, "Do you really wanna be hung up on some complicated Icelandic boy?"

Aria looked at the floor again.

"He's not from Iceland", she whispered.

Ezra was sitting at this old wooden table, which had seen better days, holding on to the glass in his hand. Whisky wasn't one of his favorite drinks, but today it just felt right. He took another sip. He tasted the strong flavor, the heat running down his throat. He knew he was drunk and it was still day outside. Back in his college days he would probably only feel a little tipsy, but he wasn't used to drinking any more.

He had figured it all out. The job interview in New York went well and he knew his chances were pretty good. And even if he didn't get the job and had to stay in Rosewood, he would pull himself together and break up with her. Being together was so wrong on every level. He had to be the grown up, the sensible one and just end it. Then he would meet another woman sometime later and they didn't have to hide and more important no one would throw him into jail if they found out. And Aria would get over it soon. She was a beautiful and young girl – very young as he tried to tell himself over and over – and boys would stand in line for her. She would forget him in the blink of an eye.

It was the right thing to do.

He was so proud of his decision, so confident. Then he walked into this classroom, seeing her with Noel, leaning forward to kiss him. When he looked into her eyes and saw the mixture of joy, anger and guilt in it, he knew he was lost.

Although Hanna had not actually expected this confession, she wasn't all that surprised. That Iceland-boy story hadn't made sense from the very beginning. She had never had a long distance relationship, but as far as she knew the heartache would get better over time, not worse as in Aria's case.

"So who is he?" she asked in a low but insistent tone.

"I can't tell you", Aria answered looking into her eyes for the first time.

"You know you can trust me!" Hanna assured, "I won't tell anyone. Not even the other girls."

"It's not that I don't trust you. There are just some reasons why we cannot be together and I am not even sure he wants us to… It sucks that I can't tell you, but I really think that's right."

Hanna knew she wasn't going to get any more information. Aria had always been a little stubborn, If she had made a decision she would stick to it whatsoever.

"What reasons could there possibly be?" she made an unpromising last try to get any information out of her friend.

"I really can't tell you, but I bet you can imagine tons of reasons!"

"Actually I can't", Hanna stated, telling the truth.

"Well it's like Romeo & Juliet… only it's nothing like that… but these two couldn't be together and had to keep their relationship a secret."

"And if they told someone, maybe they'd still be alive", Hanna responded angrily.

Aria looked at her bemused. She didn't know what surprised her more: That Hanna had actually read the book or that she was right.

The old men got up and nearly collided with Arias stool, then made his way slowly to the exit.

Aria was still searching for an answer, when she realized that Hanna's eyes were set on some point behind her.

"Well, that's new…" she murmured, "Someone seems to have a drinking problem"


	2. Chapter 2

When the drunk man at the bar got up he immediately noticed her. She was sitting at the bar beneath her blonde friend whose name he had forgotten. He only saw her from behind, but he knew it was her. It was her hair, her body, her posture. The girl he loved was in the same bar he was at the same unusual time. Could there be any more signs?

* * *

Aria slowly turned her head to see, whom Hanna was pointing at. She couldn't believe her eyes when she recognized a very well known face at the other end of the room, a face that haunted her in her dreams, a face she wanted to forget and at the same time see every second of every day in her life: Ezra.

His eyes were wide open, as if he just realized in that same moment that she was here.

"Aria" he shouted and waved after what felt like ages.

The soft slur in his voice was hard to miss and Aria realized immediately that Ezra was drunk.

He waved again, making a gesture for her to come over.

"What does he want from you?" Hanna whispered curious and confused at the same time.

Aria got up from her seat, "I'm not sure, wait a moment…"

Before she could leave, Hanna grabbed her arm, "You don't have to go! This isn't school, we could just leave!"

"It's alright, I'm gonna be back in a second." Aria answered as she freed herself from the grasp of her friend.

* * *

Slowly she walked over to his table. She hadn't seen him since that storm, where he caught her nearly kissing Noel.

There was a waggly seat on the other side of his table, where she sat down accurately minding her distance.

"What are you doing here?" were the first words that came out of his mouth and broke the silence. He was having trouble pronouncing the words, making "doing here" sound like it was only one word. He was even more drunk than it appeared from afar.

"I could ask you the very same question" Aria answered angrily, "I'm only here talking with a friend. But look at you, drinking in the middle of the day! What is wrong with you?"

"I was thinking…" he said and took another sip of his drink, which clearly wasn't water, "I really think I will get that job in New York. And this is what's best for me… what's best for us. We won't see each other any more, I can move on, you can move on, no one incurs a penalty… It's the only right thing to do." He paused and Aria wasn't sure if he was only searching for words or if he had actually finished his little speech.

"You're a jerk!" she answered furiously, "You already told me. Did I have to meet you in this state so you could tell me again? You can't just walk in and out of my life…"

"Aria!" he said and something in his voice let her fall silent.

"Aria… that's what my head says. My heart says: Screw New York, screw the law, screw everything… all I want is to be with you!"


	3. Chapter 3

Hanna still sat at the bar trying to find the missing piece of the puzzle. That damn teacher had to appear only a moment before she could reveal Aria's secret. But she couldn't suppress the intense feeling that she already knew and just had to put the pieces together.

She turned her head to watch Aria again, right in time to witness Mr. Fitz taking her hand, while he was talking to her vividly.

Shocked Hanna looked away again.

* * *

"Aria, please", he looked at her with his big brown puppy eyes.

Tons of thoughts ran through Aria's head. There he sat, telling her he loved her and part of her heart jumped up and down, full of joy. But he had disappointed her before. They had never talked about their relationship, but she felt like there had been some silent agreement between them to give it a try and then he just disappeared without a trace. She just wanted to lean over and kiss him, but she knew if he left her again, she would be even more heartbroken than for the first time. He was still looking at her, waiting for her to say something. Finally she opened her mouth: "Let's get you out of here!"

* * *

Hanna tried to understand what she just witnessed. On one hand she couldn't believe it and there was a small chance that she just misunderstood his gesture, but on the other hand everything Aria told her before suddenly made sense.

She was so caught up in her thoughts, she startled when Aria appeared next to her.

"Please don't ask any questions, but could you help me get him home? He is so drunk I don't think he can walk on his own."

"Sure…" Hanna said hesitantly.

"He lives just around the corner" Aria explained as if she wanted to wipe away Hanna's concerns.

"How do you know where he… whatever", Hanna got up from her seat and followed Aria to Mr. Fitz' table.

"Hey… blonde girl", he greeted her, when she leapt into his view.

"It's Hanna!" she stated "How you're doing, Mr. Fitz?"

"I'm great! I am just great!"

Even from where she was standing, she could smell the alcohol.

"She told me I have to go home", he babbled, pointing at Aria, "I don't think I have to go home, do you think I have to go home?"

Apart from all the embarrassment Hanna found it difficult not to smile at his comical appearance, "Yes, Mr. Fitz, I think you really should go home!"

"Well then", he got up, only to fall to the side, where Aria and Hanna could barely catch him.

They put one arm on each of their shoulders and made their way to the exit. At first it was more stumbling than walking, but after a while they seemed to have found some kind of rhythm and soon left the bar behind.

* * *

After a short while they reached apartment 3B and Aria told her Hanna hold Mr. Fitz on her own. While she was nearly collapsing under the weight of her teacher, who was making no effort to stand on his own feet, Aria bent down and got the key, which was under the doormat.

At this point Hanna had long stopped wondering and just accepted the fact that her friend knew exactly how to get into the apartment of their teacher.

Aria opened the door and together they dragged him onto his couch.

"Ok, I have everything under control from here", Aria said.

"What?"

"Thank you for helping me."

"I'd stay with you if you want me to", Hanna offered despite starting to feel shut out.

"That's really nice, but I think it's best if you go", Aria smiled and Hanna slowly walked back to the door.

"Well, I guess… see you then?"

"Yeah, see you!" Aria answered while Hanna closed the door behind her.

Disoriented she stood in the hallway for a while. Now that they were kind of accomplices Aria better told her the whole story soon!


End file.
